National Instruments CEO James Truchard Delivers Keynote at GSPx

4/4/2003 - In his keynote presentation at the Global Signal Processing Expo (GSPx), Dr. James Truchard, CEO and president of National Instruments, discussed virtual instrumentation's potential to streamline the design process by integrating heterogeneous I/O, analysis and simulation tools to help design engineers rapidly prototype and debug designs.

"Faced with the sea of design tool choices for simulation and analysis, the lack of debugging standards and economic demands for faster design to production, DSP developers need an integrated, standard platform that streamlines system design and test," said Truchard. "Virtual instrumentation does this by taking advantage of the rapidly advancing PC-platform to deliver broad connectivity to a variety of simulation tools, powerful analysis and easy comparison of design parameters and test results."

Truchard highlighted how DSP developers use PC-based tools for full system validation, test vector setup and algorithm verification for today's designs, from televisions to satellite-based car security systems. As an example of this, Truchard discussed integrating design and debugging with the LabVIEW DSP Test Integration Toolkit, which DSP developers use to integrate NI LabVIEW graphical development software with Texas Instruments Code Composer Studio development tools. Integrated tools such as these help developers easily incorporate measurements throughout the design process to identify design flaws prior to prototype construction.

LabVIEW, a core component of virtual instrumentation, spans the spectrum of design and debugging tools. It delivers an easy, yet powerful method to integrate measurements into the design process on a wide variety of hardware targets, including distributed real-time targets, smart sensors and embedded FPGAs.

Truchard, a respected veteran of the measurement and automation industry, often advises and counsels industry, academic and governmental organizations on technology issues. He is a member of the University of Texas System Chancellor's Council and a former member of Texas Gov. Rick Perry's Advisory Council on Digital Economy. Truchard has addressed several industry gatherings, including the 2002 National Manufacturing Week conference and the 2001 Sensors Expo and Conference. He cofounded National Instruments in 1976 in Austin, Texas, and Worth magazine has recognized him as one of the 50 best chief executive officers in the country because of his clear vision and leadership. Truchard, who is the Frost & Sullivan 2001 CEO of the Year for the Test and Measurement industry and in the Electronic Design Engineering Hall of Fame, has led NI through growth for 25 of the company's 26 years. He is co-inventor of the NI LabVIEW graphical development environment.

About National Instruments
National Instruments (http://ni.com) is a technology pioneer and leader in virtual instrumentation -- a revolutionary concept that has changed the way engineers and scientists approach measurement and automation. Leveraging the PC and its related technologies, virtual instrumentation increases productivity and lowers costs for customers worldwide through easy-to-integrate software, such as the NI LabVIEW graphical development environment, and modular hardware, such as PXI modules for data acquisition, instrument control and machine vision. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 3,000 employees and direct operations in 40 countries. In 2002, the company sold products to more than 25,000 different companies in more than 80 countries around the world. For the past four consecutive years, FORTUNE magazine has named NI one of the 100 best companies to work for in America.